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bullcrap that feeling just belongs to you two guys sa far the FI island arc hasn't been super awesome but everything is just noe getting restarted, so stay patient, pay attention, and dont skim threw it.

So far it's looking obvious will get our Fishman Island flash back of what happen in the past. Without a doubt racism will be involved in it, what we want to know who was there and how those this affect our way of predicting this story overall. But that's to big of a picture to discuss so just breaking down to our current arc. Starting with the Pyneglyph, I believe that's one of the reasons why Otohime was assassinated if not the major reason. Her "ideals" could had been similar to Clovers, people should be free to know the true history and probably was trying to expose the Pyneglyph. The more likely case is her ideals were just for Fishman/merman to live peacefully along side with everyone else. I think her graveyard is where the Pyneglyph is located.

Also like some have mentioned we might not have been shown the real villain behind the scenes. The new fishman pirates don't like humans, Neptune is trying to make peace/live with humans the whole idea seems to simple. Do they just want power to control Fishman island make sure that is their ideals that govern it? Fishman Island probably makes most of its income being a tourists spot, but was said a giant shadowy figure been scaring ships away? Were they referring to Decken's crew? Decken himself seems lacking character as well, so he is only obsessed with the Princess? All he cares about is having her? The 10 years he been avoiding the Neptune army is that all he's been doing?

Aside from the fact that FI has been hyped for years, this is the kickoff arc for the second half of the story. It's going to set alot of things into motion. The idea that it will be a mini arc is ridiculous.Camie has already used the word conspiracy. Do either of our two Villains look like conspirators? It is relatively obvious that someone is manipulating the situation from the shadows. The question is who and to what end.

I don't think it has anything to do with Big Mom. She is already in a position to get almost anything she wants in return for her protection. I don't think destabilizing the Ryuuguu kingdom who she already has an agreement with has much potential benefit to her. As a Yonkou I would imagine she's busy holding ground in the NW. She doesn't need extra responsibilities at FI. I'd imagine that she doesn't even keep a presence there.Due to Caribou's behavior I think it's reasonable to assume that the Yonkou threat to those who enter FI is one of retaliation rather than outright protection. They rely on the immigration report since usually there is only one way into the bubble. By taking down the names of any pirates they can ensure that the ones who cause trouble are dealt with later by whoever happens to be protecting the island at the time. It was probably the same in WB's day which is why Ace and Jinbei fought for two days before WB showed.

Skypeia spent a volume and a half just explaining how the area and the world worked before anything really started happening. We haven't even seen all the districts of FI yet. We're still in the "see the town" phase. That there's already like 7 subplots going on just cues us in on how BIG its going to be.

Jinbe's message/Hodi

How do you interpret the message?

1 Hodi is too strong for luffy to handle.
2 Someone way more dangerous hidden in the underworld is using Hodi as his pawn (possibly the manufacturer of the devil drugs)
3 Hodi has a special connection to Jinbei as a relative or a former member of Jinbei's piratecrew the sunny pirates. A potential ally.
4 The message is urgent, there is probably something Jinbei wants to show Luffy in the forest and he needs to go there as soon as possible.
5. Your own theories.

The Character Hodi

The dead fox aroung his neck: Something he was given by Big Mama or someone else? Is it a" weapon" that has been fed with a devil fruit?
The great scar on his stomache: Has he removed some kind of organ maybe sold a kidney to get money or implanted something?
An Operation due to drug abuse?
The ark/giant boat at his hangout place in Noah.
Does someone live there, is the metaphor relevant to The ark of Noah? We can compare the bible story with a foreboding of total destruction and someone who has built a giant boat for protection. Once Hodi has the royal power of the kingdom he can build an entire army of fishmen command them on the boat the arc and invade human land/kill as many humans possible. Is it possibly some kind of ancient weapon?

Hodi is a white shark fishman and he shares some of it's traits when he is particularly bloodthirsty and ruthless.
We all know white sharks are the terror of the seas, a symbol of fear.

If you wrote the script for this series and was to choose what fish race to mix with the final villain of an arc, probably a white shark would sound interesting...

This guy is more dangerous than what people think.
He is driven by hate and revenge-lust and he probably has some personal grudge. He takes drugs that makes him stronger but probably also totally mad/insane...

In his mindset humans are completely demonized and the real villains and he could as well see him self as a liberator and a hero as much as Tiger was. Deep inside of him he feels love his race and disgust for the cowardly Neptune and his human friendly hypocrisy. Though greed could be a motivator as well.

He fits in the role since this arc is mostly serves as a warm up to show what the SH's are capable of. It's a nostalgia ride back to the Arlong fights back in the days. We can relate to the strength of fishmen but see it increase so much with these drugs will be interesting every one of the HJ crew could become madly insane in power.

Final Thoughts

As much as I want to arc to just get over with quickly that won't happen,think it was made pretty clear once we got to fishman island. I doubt that Fishman Island is going to be a short arc. At least it will be like Water 7 where the SHs will go to another island/place (Sea Forest) but will be heavily connected to FI.
For starters, Oda planned to have fishmen introduced as early as chapter three, and even had specific characters planned out since the Arlong Park arc since Hachi mentioned a strong swordsman there which is Hyouzou. Plus for Shaobody, Amzon Lily and Impel Down and Marineford Fishman Island and/or Fisher Tiger were constantly mentioned. It's obvious Oda has something planned for this arc that he has planned for a very long time. He isn't going to throw all that hype and anticipation he has created by constantly referencing Fishman Island and make it a short arc for the sole reason of the crew showing off their new knowledge.
And since he has planned the details for years and possibly since the start, he isn't going to make the villain Arlong on steroids because Luffy has already been mentioned to parallel Fisher Tiger, the only person - human or fishman - that has had the courage to attack a tenryuubito. And for what purpose? To defeat Arlong2? F*ck no.
He is going to win Seapeople's respect as a whole, and unify them, and he isn't going to do that by solely defeating Hodi Jones.

Why would he introduce fishman slavery and Fisher Tiger's heroism and give us a second perspective on fishmen and merfolk - show us that they have been oppressed and enslaved for centuries - only for a recycled East Blue plotline and villain?

But I will admit I too just wanted this arc over with as well (mainly because I want to see the New World though), the art for some of the characters just isn't interesting like his earlier arcs. Neptune and his 3 sons especially, I can understand the Coribo bros and those other fodder pirates being crappily drawn though. About the recycle princesses that's some what a given if your viewing the overall picture. He's set out to become the Pirate King, he isn't just going to do by just defeating strong foes or finding One Piece, he's going to top Roger and earn it with the world backing him up. I don't know why the princess is even seemingly annoying you since she's been mentioned all the way back in thriller bark she's probably the most predictable character from this arc.

This is why I think you find it highly predictable this arc and boring, because it's starting out with many things that happen in past arcs. The difference is that all of it is set in motion a lot faster than all the other arcs. It's definitely more to this arc than meets that eye, this Island was mentioned 10 years back right at the end of the Baratia arc. You really think Oda planned a recycled plot for this? For some reason I think in 2 days you'll get your answer.

In short this arc is a kick off to the New World, we already know which will include finally explained Haki powers, The Land of Wano, Elbaf home of the prideful giant warriors, Islands that can suck your ship in a instant, islands that rain thunder regularly, Island you can walk mid air. It's a world that makes the first half of the grandline look like Paradise. Paradise a place they nearly killed the main protagonists along with his crew many times. Involved the Shichibukai's.

Oh yeah the break like was out of no where no explanation nothing WTF up with that.

Or you could just be on withdrawal from the War arc that lasted nearly 2 years.

Those are really some interesting theories, and I hope we do get to see them play out, and I'm sure most of us will. I've been reading this shit for almost a decade, a bad arc won't stop me, but this arc, currently, seems like an underpreformance on Oda's part.

To me, the Whitebeard War Arc set off the journey to the New World. Honestly, I think the logical progression is Big Mama is the one taking control of Fishman Island secretly and Luffy has to deal with her. I think we need arcs with the strongest villains in the world at this point.

That being said, the underlying interest in this arc was almost entirely inspired by older writing, for me. I just think this arc so far has been way below par, and I surely hope Oda is slow rolling something big.

Dickriding. Because I appreciate it!

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by Uzumaki_Tim

HB seems to have mellowed in his old age (like 19 i'm guessing?) so I voted for Calcifer to topple him this year

Originally Posted by Queenofmuffins

Calcifer is too awesome to be banned forever! \o/

Originally Posted by REDXIII

its a shame that HB is even near Cal to be honest

Originally Posted by [JUiCE]

It means that Calcifer will meditate into concentrating his uber haxxor Troll skillz and ruin the story.

"Truth"

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by Chris200

Calcifer hasn't done anything worth it. Being banned is an Honor not a Joke

Of course those theories won't be on point just general gist of what I think he's doing with this arc. I don't see it being Big Mum because well they aren't in the New World just seems way to soon to be putting him up against a Yonkou. If you give Luffy a Yonkou now to beat there won't be much room for progression for the rest of journey in my opinion.

This isn't even the worse starting arc for me to be honest, for me it was the Davy back fight(although it became real good as it progressed even if it was all a gag arc). But unlike davy Back fight, Fishman Island has many subplots that can help us put more pieces of the puzzle together. Especially the Poneglyph if Oda has Robin reveal the message that is.

Yeah in short it seems lack luster because having some predictable situations happen, "the kingdom in turmoil, Luffy saves the Kingdom everyones happy!" Like Skypeia and Alabasta and Water 7 whether Luffy does it directly or indirectly as the reader it's not as interesting. Like you mentioned with the recycled plots. Give it a chapter or 2 I think you'll see Oda mindf*cking you again.

Worse case scenario though all the time skip haters were right and a time skip would ruin One Piece and Oda lost his touch! *shoots self*

Oh that's badass you been reading it for a decade.

Edit: Did some AP Forum skimming to check why there was a break not solid though. No shonen Jump link.

Anyway, we usually aren't told why authors go on break. Vacation, sick, "he just couldn't manage all of the pages in time" (< this one is unlikely, considering Oda stays multiple chapters ahead), the reason that most authors post is "to gather data/material". Though I heard about a manga-ka that actually went to london to get the layout of the city correct, and had to take a break for that, lol.

The usual answer is the author does research.

This makes sense if he got his tongue tied with all the theorizing I did, trying to make sure not to reveal to much is probably the reason though. This is a author that likes to draw his readers to certain things on his manga keep that in mind reading One Piece you might catch some things not many see.

Personally i got to say this arc so far is boring but it's 10x better then skipea i really hated that arc
also i think this is just a warming up like how east blue was for the grand line

The reasons i think so is:
1. We haven't seen anything of how the world is doing so far
2. We haven't seen anything from the crew so far (except for some flashy moves but nothing really special except maybe luffy the arnement haki)
3. The new arc just started don't get upset to soon things cane get good soon when the fighting starts

that's just a little how i think about it but there are more reasons like we are still not even in the New World technically we are just at the half of the grandline so i dont think Oda is doing bad he just needs more time to make the story go

yes cal its just you and nice seeing you by the way your like never around any more

Originally Posted by arisart

Lol, I bet you argue too much with cross. It's not really healthy you know.

Originally Posted by Mister Death

Hey stick to the topic, quit asking nonsense question about other series or if cross777 is thunder luffy which by the way have different IP addresses.... Next person that goes off topic will be infracted...

Well, I havent read all the posts so idk if its been said, however....

I don't think its a let down.. I think there was just too much hype after the 2yr time skip/power ups/WB war and all that it entailed..
All Arcs started off like this, the WB War Arc started with Thriller Bark which if you remember was pretty lame at first.. after the met brook it was like 10chapters of nothing before they realized hogback was a bad guy, then after 30chapters of bs luffy started fighting moria.

Of course, as marco said (I think it was him, i just skimmed the posts) coming off of the WB War pretty much any normal arc would be a let down.

Click to see what RPG personality you are.(It's funny because I ALWAYS use a bow if its available in a game lol)

K, I'll agree it's not fair to judge or compare any Arc that comes after the War. But This was after a 2 Year Time Skip, a Month and a week of waiting to see what was going to happen. A month of planning everything out. It's not that I don't expect FI to get better, it's just that from what we've seen so far has been pretty lame. Everyone wants to see our favorite crew do some bad ass shit and what we've been given are chapters full of skipped fights and lame enemies (Opinion)

I just want to see this Arc pick up a bit faster seeing as we've had to wait so long for the crew to get down to FI. There was just so much hype pre time skip for FI that it's just been a huge let down so far and not what was expected.

Sanji almost bleeding out is just plain stupid. Come on, the man's ambition is to reach Full Blue and cook with the finest ingredients in the world yet he would sacrifice his life to see something he can't touch. I understand he was running for dear life for two years with no female interaction what so ever, but there's a fine line between treating one's self and over compensating. Getting blood from an Okama Fishman none-the-less. Funny, but still, it shouldn't have been needed in the first place.